The Boy

This is a painting I just did on my hoodie. I have come to the happy realization that I have more fun painting on my clothes/bags/hands/etc than on paper sometimes.

I ran into a little boy today on the way to the market. His hair was matted down and his feet were dirty from the city streets. As he stole a quick glance up at me, I caught a glimmer of recognition in his eyes. Tugging on my coat, he pulled me down to him and said that "there were words we must share". Here is what he did utter to me:

I have seen my greatest love.
I have tasted a wonderful joy ...
One never before known to me.

And now I find that I have lost it all.
The empty place in my heart,
momentarily filled with cheerful destruction,
is once again a seeping hole;
a gaping wound.

I wish only now
that the happy times I had enjoyed,
could be taken back
and I could be left with every day's hope,
instead of unending sorrow.

As I tried to console him with my own feelings of loss and despair, he knowingly turned up his eyes and remarked in words my heart echoes within:

Your sadness is only so great;
your pain is only so deep,
because of the friendship you held too near;
because of misgiven things you let go of too late.
Had you acted with ration and true concern,
and less with young, headstrong ambition,
you now would find yourself with the same strong love of the past,
instead of vain hopes for dreams you never really had.

With these last words, the boy within (my arms) fell down and ceased his life's breathe. And I, alone, was left to stare out blankly into the darkening night.

This week, I bought the latest Death Cab for Cutie album, Narrow Stairs and it is just so gorgeous. The sound is immersive and the lyrics are spell-binding.As I was reading a devotion this morning from Psalms, I fell into some thoughts about the song “I Will Possess Your Heart” that gave it some real ...

Argh! I have been putting this post off for a while now and THIS is only like the fouth version I have written. I keep trying to find the right words and emotions (or is that inflections?), but it keeps coming out wrong. Instead of sounding sincere, all I hear in my head is vapid ...

Ivoryline put out their new "Vessels" album in the middle of last year and I was finally able to pick up a couple of weeks ago. Just like their previous album, "There Came a Lion" (the cover art of which I adore), I simply love this new one.
Here are lyrics from the second cut ...
With ...

I’ve had the words of a song I heard at Status last week stuck in my head for awhile, and after shaking around in my head a bit, this wallpaper is what they turned into. I hope you enjoy, and for those interested, here are my notes from the speaker that night.
The song is called ...

Pronounced “draw” ...

... the DRÄ Studio is the online recreational site for Oscar Cortez. It's mainly a collection of vector illustrations, raster graphics, design insights, UI concepts, Apple Macintosh ponderings and pretty much anything else that is fun to talk about.

Who’s behind the Curtain:

Oscar is a designer and illustrator, but aspires to be an animator, musician, technologist, writer, photographer and artist. He is in love with a beautiful girl, a wonderful Savior, and is waiting to hold his son again.

Oscar is usually busy making things pretty for friends and ministries alike, but when he needs a break, he can usually be found teaching at Full Sail, drawing on his leftovers or painting his own tee shirts.